Very First Prelim of Cavewoman's Meriem by BUDD ROOT!

This, without a doubt, is the holy grail in my collection, a gift from Budd. It's the very first time Budd drew Cavewoman and it appeared in the trade paperback of the first series. Actually, I had seen the light finished pencils years before on the back of one of the universal monster pages from "Budd's Basement, a short story from an issue of caliber presents. Well, one day at another two day convention of ours, I mentioned to Budd how much I'd love to purchase the cover to "Rain" #5. Budd said, "Oh, that one is gone, Rob, but I tell you what I'll do for ya. See this? This is the very first drawing of Meriem, ever! I still need to finish inking it but I'll put your name on it!" And his lovely wife, Leslie, marked it "For Rob." I almost fell over! W-O-W! What's better than a cavewoman cover??? How about the very first concept drawing of our beloved character herself? Klyde even has a "Hulk" thing going on instead of Kong. Maybe this was around the time Budd was trying out for marvel, remember those Hulk pages? My wife says one day I'm probably going to be homeless, pulling a little red wagon behind me with all my Cavewoman original art! Budd, you are the MAN! I cannot thank you enough for this! I'm so happy!